Noam Chomsky: A Brief History of America's Cold-Blooded, Terroristic Treatment of Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Noam Chomsky: A Brief History of America's Cold-Blooded, Terroristic Treatment of Cuba

"The Cuban threat was the familiar one that runs through Cold War history, with many predecessors."

By Noam Chomsky / AlterNet
February 5, 2015

~ snip ~

In Cuba, Kennedy inherited Eisenhower's policy of embargo and formal plans to overthrow the regime, and quickly escalated them with the Bay of Pigs invasion. The failure of the invasion caused near hysteria in Washington. At the first cabinet meeting after the failed invasion, the atmosphere was "almost savage," Under Secretary of State Chester Bowles noted privately: "there was an almost frantic reaction for an action program." Kennedy articulated the hysteria in his public pronouncements: "The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history. Only the strong ... can possibly survive," he told the country, though was aware, as he said privately, that allies "think that we're slightly demented" on the subject of Cuba. Not without reason.

Kennedy's actions were true to his words. He launched a murderous terrorist campaign designed to bring "the terrors of the earth" to Cuba -- historian and Kennedy adviser Arthur Schlesinger's phrase, referring to the project assigned by the president to his brother Robert Kennedy as his highest priority. Apart from killing thousands of people along with large-scale destruction, the terrors of the earth were a major factor in bringing the world to the brink of a terminal nuclear war, as recent scholarship reveals. The administration resumed the terrorist attacks as soon as the missile crisis subsided.

A standard way to evade the unpleasant topic is to keep to the CIA assassination plots against Castro, ridiculing their absurdity. They did exist, but were a minor footnote to the terrorist war launched by the Kennedy brothers after the failure of their Bay of Pigs invasion, a war that is hard to match in the annals of international terrorism.

There is now much debate about whether Cuba should be removed from the list of states supporting terrorism. It can only bring to mind the words of Tacitus that "crime once exposed had no refuge but in audacity." Except that it is not exposed, thanks to the "treason of the intellectuals."

More:
http://www.alternet.org/world/noam-chomsky-brief-history-americas-cold-blooded-terroristic-treatment-cuba?akid=12766.28418.2XaHHo&rd=1&src=newsletter1031451&t=2

[Judi Lynn]

1. Two quotes from this article most people may not have heard, regarding Cuba:

On taking office after the assassination, President Johnson relaxed the terrorism, which however continued through the 1990s. But he was not about to allow Cuba to survive in peace. He explained to Senator Fulbright that though "I'm not getting into any Bay of Pigs deal," he wanted advice about "what we ought to do to pinch their nuts more than we're doing." Commenting, Latin America historian Lars Schoultz observes that "Nut-pinching has been U.S. policy ever since."

Some, to be sure, have felt that such delicate means are not enough, for example, Nixon cabinet member Alexander Haig, who asked the president to "just give me the word and I'll turn that f--- island into a parking lot." His eloquence captured vividly the long-standing frustration of US leaders about "That infernal little Cuban republic," Theodore Roosevelt's phrase as he ranted in fury over Cuban unwillingness to accept graciously the US invasion of 1898 to block their liberation from Spain and turn them into a virtual colony. Surely his courageous ride up San Juan Hill had been in a noble cause (overlooked, commonly, is that African-American battalions were largely responsible for conquering the hill).

[geek tragedy]

2. I've never understood the vehemence of the hatred for Cuba on the American right wing.

There's no shortage of reasons to object to Cuba's lack of democracy, etc, but that's not what bothers them.

Are they really that bothered by people getting an education and medical care?

[Hydra]

4. Of course they are

There's a reason they call themselves "The Elite." It's mostly economic, with some ego mixed in. They want 90%(or more?) of the world to be their slave labor. Educating people and letting them live comfortable lives with flourishing individual cultures doesn't help that. If you read the whole article, their real fear is that the people the oppress will get smart enough and organized enough to take control of the production processes. That's what really scares them about Cuba- if people start ousting the "Elite" and prove that they are not needed to run successful societies, they lose their immense wealth, power and immunity to the law. They can and do kill people over that.

[niyad]

3. k and r and bookmarking for later. only so much ugly I can handle in one day.

[rhett o rick]

5. K&R. Thanks for posting. nm